The 3 rules of a good pitch

Finding a good catch phrase to generate interest in an idea or a project is not always easy. In the heat of the moment, it’s often difficult to step back enough to be synoptic and powerful. To help you find how to best pitch your idea, here’s the “rule of the 3 Cs”: concise, concrete and comprehensible.

Concise

Your pitch must be brief and easy to retain. It is rare that the power of decision depends on a single person. So you have to inspire the person you’re addressing to become an ambassador of your idea. A concise pitch can be easily repeated and spread. To be concise, you have to accept that you can’t say everything. A pitch is not a complete picture of your idea; on the contrary, it’s optimized to make people want to learn more.

Concrete

Your pitch should give your audience an immediate depiction of what your idea is concretely. If it is complicated to explain, it’s not up to the person you’re addressing to make the effort to understand; it’s up to you to be ready to make it simple. To be concrete, a powerful tool is the use of analogies. This way, whether you’re using a comparison or a metaphor, you’ll provide a clearer reference to your audience.

Comprehensible

This third point may seem obvious. But in practice it’s not necessarily so. Since an argument and the way to deliver a pitch can vary from person to person, we believe that your pitch, the actual wording of your idea, must be unique. Thus, it is important to use the same pitch, whether you’re talking to technicians or financial experts. Your idea will come out stronger, more coherent and unifying.